Posted by James on September 26, 2007, 12:09 pm
Jim, you need a (at least) a group 27 deep cycle battery. The cold cranking
amps CCA is another of the BS specs we have to contend with. The amp-hour
rating of the battery is what is important. This will be evident by the
weight of the battery. Car starting (and lawn tractor starting) batterys are
NOT designed to be discharged very much. A complete discharge will usually
kill one.You'll need to charge it at home and then hook it to the lawn
tractor. The 100+ amp discharge will pull it down in no time. However, you
should be able to get some useful work done. As someone else mentioned, the
lawn tractor only has a 8-10 amp alternator. Now, if you feel frisky, you
could rig a 130 amp car alternator to the engine and run the inverter for a
good long time. There are some nice self contained alternators out there. A
"one wire" would prolly run you a couple of hundred dollars. Go to an
alternator repair shop rather than an auto parts store. Youll need to fab
brackets and wiring. James
> Anybody have a round idea of what an inverter putting out 1500 watts AC
> would draw from a 12VDC battery on a riding mower?
> TIA,
> Jim
>
Posted by Jim on September 26, 2007, 3:30 pm
> Jim, you need a (at least) a group 27 deep cycle battery.
Thanks for the heads up; this is what I need, numbers to ask for at the
tractor supply place!!! My experience is in =automotive= design/repair etc
when it comes to this.
The cold cranking
> amps CCA is another of the BS specs we have to contend with. The amp-hour
> rating of the battery is what is important. This will be evident by the
> weight of the battery. Car starting (and lawn tractor starting) batterys
> are NOT designed to be discharged very much. A complete discharge will
> usually kill one.You'll need to charge it at home and then hook it to the
> lawn tractor. The 100+ amp discharge will pull it down in no time.
> However, you should be able to get some useful work done. As someone else
> mentioned, the lawn tractor only has a 8-10 amp alternator. Now, if you
> feel frisky, you could rig a 130 amp car alternator to the engine and run
> the inverter for a good long time. There are some nice self contained
> alternators out there. A "one wire" would prolly run you a couple of
> hundred dollars. Go to an alternator repair shop rather than an auto parts
> store. Youll need to fab brackets and wiring. James
>> Anybody have a round idea of what an inverter putting out 1500 watts
>> AC would draw from a 12VDC battery on a riding mower?
>> TIA,
>> Jim
>>
>
Posted by Ulysses on September 26, 2007, 1:04 pm
> Anybody have a round idea of what an inverter putting out 1500 watts
AC
> would draw from a 12VDC battery on a riding mower?
> TIA,
> Jim
Have you actually tried connecting the inverter and running the saw? My
expectation is that the inverter will immediately shut down because you do
not have enough battery power to supply the load. And, if it does start
then you will be running down your battery very quickly because the load is
much greater than the alternator can supply. I suspect the saw draws
somewhere in the 800 watt range (if it's a small chain saw).
Perhaps you could just get a 90-100 Ah deep cycle battery (or two golf cart
batteries), put it on a dolly/cart along with the inverter, charge it up and
go cut your wood. It would make no noise and the inverter should shut down
when the battery gets low. You could probably cut a decent supply of wood
with one charge. I usually just cut some logs into manageable lengths and
cut to fireplace size by my house. Keep in mind that an inverter generally
needs about 1/10 of it's maximum rating in amp hours just to keep from
shutting down. i.e. for 1000 watts you need 100 amp hours of battery.
Personally I use a small (1500 watt) generator to do what you are doing. I
have done it with my truck (Explorer) and an 800 watt inverter connected to
the battery but only to cut a few branches and with the engine running.
Meanwhile, I think I'll take a battery and an inverter down to my little
forest and try it out. It's about time to cut some wood anyway. I'll let
you know how it works out.
Posted by Ulysses on September 26, 2007, 3:14 pm
> > Anybody have a round idea of what an inverter putting out 1500 watts
> AC
> > would draw from a 12VDC battery on a riding mower?
> > TIA,
> > Jim
> >
> >
Here's what I did: I used a 3-4 year old 85 Ah deep cycle 12 volt battery
and connected a Vector 1500/3000 watt MSW inverter with battery clips. I
also used a 25 foot 12ga extension cord along with my McCullogh 16" electric
chain saw which (it says) is rated for 10 amps (quite a bit more than I
originally thought).. I made seven cuts through 5"-6" diameter very hard
oak logs. The inverter shut down several times. I removed the battery
clips and hard-wired it. The inverter continued to shut down while starting
the saw. The specific gravity of the battery was about 1260 when I started
(just to the green on the hydrometer) and about 1250 when I finished (gave
up) which is about in the middle of the white area.
For what you are doing I'd say you would need about 150 Ah of battery
capacity which figures right in with the 1/10 wattage formula. You probably
need the extra battery capacity to handle the startup surge. If your mower
battery is what I think it is it's probably only about 20 Ah.
I tried this with less than optimum conditions because in the real world
things are usually not optimum. I think I'll stick to using a small
generator for now. For one thing I can use an old 50 foot 14ga extension
cord and not have any problems with loss of power. Plus the generator is
easier to tote around than a huge battery and inverter.
> Have you actually tried connecting the inverter and running the saw? My
> expectation is that the inverter will immediately shut down because you do
> not have enough battery power to supply the load. And, if it does start
> then you will be running down your battery very quickly because the load
is
> much greater than the alternator can supply. I suspect the saw draws
> somewhere in the 800 watt range (if it's a small chain saw).
> Perhaps you could just get a 90-100 Ah deep cycle battery (or two golf
cart
> batteries), put it on a dolly/cart along with the inverter, charge it up
and
> go cut your wood. It would make no noise and the inverter should shut
down
> when the battery gets low. You could probably cut a decent supply of wood
> with one charge. I usually just cut some logs into manageable lengths and
> cut to fireplace size by my house. Keep in mind that an inverter
generally
> needs about 1/10 of it's maximum rating in amp hours just to keep from
> shutting down. i.e. for 1000 watts you need 100 amp hours of battery.
> Personally I use a small (1500 watt) generator to do what you are doing.
I
> have done it with my truck (Explorer) and an 800 watt inverter connected
to
> the battery but only to cut a few branches and with the engine running.
> Meanwhile, I think I'll take a battery and an inverter down to my little
> forest and try it out. It's about time to cut some wood anyway. I'll let
> you know how it works out.
Posted by Jim on September 26, 2007, 4:52 pm
> For what you are doing I'd say you would need about 150 Ah of battery
> capacity
I =may= just drive my car close enough to draw from that; it has an
850CCA battery from Ford. It wouldn't kill my car! :-)
I can run a 100 ft extension cord into the woods and it will run the saw
from the car, while the engine idles.
I have a catalog w/a 1500W inverter for like $100 or something. Might
have to try it out..... I'll bet it'll get nice and warm and keep my hands
toasty in the snow!
which figures right in with the 1/10 wattage formula. You probably
> need the extra battery capacity to handle the startup surge. If your
> mower
> battery is what I think it is it's probably only about 20 Ah.
> I tried this with less than optimum conditions because in the real world
> things are usually not optimum. I think I'll stick to using a small
> generator for now. For one thing I can use an old 50 foot 14ga extension
> cord and not have any problems with loss of power. Plus the generator is
> easier to tote around than a huge battery and inverter.
>>
>> Have you actually tried connecting the inverter and running the saw? My
>> expectation is that the inverter will immediately shut down because you
>> do
>> not have enough battery power to supply the load. And, if it does start
>> then you will be running down your battery very quickly because the load
> is
>> much greater than the alternator can supply. I suspect the saw draws
>> somewhere in the 800 watt range (if it's a small chain saw).
>>
>> Perhaps you could just get a 90-100 Ah deep cycle battery (or two golf
> cart
>> batteries), put it on a dolly/cart along with the inverter, charge it up
> and
>> go cut your wood. It would make no noise and the inverter should shut
> down
>> when the battery gets low. You could probably cut a decent supply of
>> wood
>> with one charge. I usually just cut some logs into manageable lengths
>> and
>> cut to fireplace size by my house. Keep in mind that an inverter
> generally
>> needs about 1/10 of it's maximum rating in amp hours just to keep from
>> shutting down. i.e. for 1000 watts you need 100 amp hours of battery.
>>
>> Personally I use a small (1500 watt) generator to do what you are doing.
> I
>> have done it with my truck (Explorer) and an 800 watt inverter connected
> to
>> the battery but only to cut a few branches and with the engine running.
>> Meanwhile, I think I'll take a battery and an inverter down to my little
>> forest and try it out. It's about time to cut some wood anyway. I'll
>> let
>> you know how it works out.
>>
>>
>
XML site map
> would draw from a 12VDC battery on a riding mower?
> TIA,
> Jim
>